After the day-long trip to get here, we woke up to see just how "out there" Punta del Diablo really was. (Below, a pic of our trusty VW Golf parked in front of the hotel. You'll see we had to fight really hard for a parking spot.)

If you follow the road to the right, you hit the end, then there is nothing but sand dunes between you and the Atlantic.

Punta del Diablo is like no where I've ever been. When it comes to the geography/infrastructure, it's like a weird combination of Mexico and Santa Cruz, when it comes to the weather, it's like a hot summer in Hawaii. The town is landlocked, but it's so far out there and remote it almost feels like an island.

Punta del Diablo is about an hour from the Brazilian border, 2 hours from Punta del Este (the big party city) 5 hours or so from Montevideo, and 9 hours from Buenos Aires by car. Or, if you fly, it's one hour, and then a 2 hour drive from Punta del Este.

All types of people came to Punta for New Years--from young kids looking to party, to families on holiday--but everyone was from South America (mostly Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina.) We didn't really see any Americans at all, which is always a good sign that we've landed somewhere unique.

And of course, there was very little English. We may have run into 1-2 people who "spoke English" the same way I "speak Spanish" but that's usually enough to get us by.

You'll see in the pictures that there is no rhyme or reason to the infrastructure--what goes where, what's it made out of . . . it's all up for grabs. And as the locals told us, a lot of the infrastructure is temporary, because after the summer rush ends, there are only about 600 inhabitants in the town, while the rest clears out.

I really feel like we stumbled upon a "locals only" spot, that has yet to be discovered. All the signs for new development popping up in the town indicate that in 5 years, Punta del Diablo may be more like the more popular city, Punta del Este, but for now, this place was something really special.